The present invention relates to an improved cigarette lighter. More particularly, the invention relates to a cigarette lighter utilizing a catalytic effect of a wire of platinum or a platinum-based alloy as an igniter member for promoting combustion of the inflammable gas of a liquefied fuel ejected out of the nozzle.
It is known to provide a cigarette lighter with an igniter member or combustion-promoting member made of a heat-resistant material at the nozzle from which a fuel gas is ejected so that burning of the fuel gas can be smoothly continued. A conventional igniter member is made from a ceramic material such as alumina shaped in a honeycomb structure to have a large surface area on which a certain catalytic material is deposited. It is also known that such an igniter member is made from a platinum wire.
The above mentioned ceramic-made honeycomb-shaped igniter member is not always suitable for use in a cigarette lighter from the standpoint of practical application. For example, such a ceramic-made igniter member is unavoidably voluminous and hence has a large heat capacity so that it can be red-heated only by taking a length of time and may be subject to localized heating in the portion in direct contact with the flame. These problems can of course be solved by decreasing the wall thickness of the honeycomb structure though producing other problems that the igniter member is liable to be mechanically broken so that the assemblage works of the lighters must be conducted with utmost care and also the member is subject to falling of the surface layer by the repetition of thermal and mechanical shocks caused by lighting on and off. Moreover, manufacturing process of such ceramic-made igniter members requires special apparatuses for shaping, cutting and so on and a great deal of labor to cause an increase in the manufacturing costs.
Conventional igniter members having a platinum wire hitherto used have a problem that the platinum-made igniting element has a relatively small surface area and small heat capacity so that, once the flame is blown off by wind, the temperature of the platinum-made igniting element is rapidly decreased and the platinum wire can no longer exhibit the catalytic activity for the combustion of the fuel gas necessitating another igniting operation by means of the piezoelectric igniting device and the like.